Steinbeck Essay - of Mice and Men - the Tragedies of Life

The Tragedies of Life

No matter how hard one might try, one’s dreams may never become a reality. That is something that young people may find hard to believe, but it is something that many people have had to learn to accept. In his poem, “To a Mouse,” eighteenth century Scottish poet Robert Burns expressed a tragic view of life in words that would later become famous: “… The best laid schemes of mice and men go oft astray, and leave us naught but pain and sorrow for promised joy.” Twentieth century author John Steinbeck used the phrase “of mice and men” as the title for his book in which characters and events serve to illustrate the tragic dimensions of human life that many people experience. This essay will present examples of terrible misfortune and cruel twists of fate from the experiences of real people, and the two main characters in John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men

The two main characters are, George, a poor hard-working fellow, and Lennie, the mentally retarded man for whom George is responsible. They travel around working as low-paid laborers on various ranches and farms in 1930s California. Their dream was to own a plot of land that they could call their own, “we’d jus’ live there. We’d belong..”. The joy George sought through his dreams, was to be able to be independent, to grow his own vegetables, to raise cows, and sell chicken eggs. Being his own boss, he wouldn’t have to worry about